Pictures of alleged abuse set for release

Saturday

Apr 25, 2009 at 12:01 AMApr 25, 2009 at 7:37 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House vowed yesterday it will not be distracted by an upcoming disclosure sure to gain attention at home and abroad: hundreds of photos showing U.S. personnel allegedly abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, environment.

The images show mistreatment at locations beyond the infamous U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where pictures emerged in 2004 of grinning U.S. soldiers posing with detainees, some naked, being held on leashes or in painful positions. That revelation caused a huge international backlash against the United States.

The Pentagon plans to release the latest photos by May 28 in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. The move comes after the Department of Justice lost its latest round in federal court and concluded that any further appeal would probably be fruitless.

The release of the photos, although underscoring President Barack Obama’s promise of transparency, poses risks for the administration. Politically, it could again focus attention on the troubling past and prompt more calls for investigations and prosecutions. Every bit of time and energy centered on examining misdeeds of previous years could undermine the president’s ability to rally Congress and the public behind an ambitious agenda.

Already, the White House spent much of this week dealing with questions about the era of President George W. Bush after the release of documents that detailed brutal interrogation techniques used by the CIA against terror suspects. Obama was prompted to release those memos in response to an ACLU lawsuit, too.

“The president is not concerned that this is going to distract from a larger agenda,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday, referring to the combination of events. “I think the American people are focused on moving forward.”

Gibbs said the release of the photos was “largely compelled by a court decision” and not something that was in the White House’s control. He declined to say whether Obama would support releasing the photos even if he were not pressed by a court case.

Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman for House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, said the release of the photos could cause a backlash that will put U.S. troops in harm’s way at greater risk. She said the issue is not Obama’s agenda but rather protection for the U.S. men and women in the military. “The administration should have fought this all the way to the Supreme Court,” Ferrier said.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the pictures were part of Army investigations of abuse allegations. The Pentagon has pursued more than 400 such investigations, he said. Whitman said some of the forthcoming pictures would be edited to mask the identity of those pictured.

Defense officials said the total number of photos would be in the hundre ds.

“The disclosure of these photographs serves as a further reminder that abuse of prisoners in U.S.-administered detention centers was systemic,” said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project.

“Some of the abuse occurred because senior civilian and military officials created a culture of impunity in which abuse was tolerated, and some of the abuse was expressly authorized,” Jaffer said. “It’s imperative that senior officials who condoned or authorized abuse now be held accountable for their actions.”